


California Dreamin'

by LaLa_Land_14



Category: Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyer
Genre: Alternate Universe - Historical, Alternate Universe - Human, F/M, Hippies, Road Trips, Summer Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-26
Updated: 2020-04-26
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:55:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 877
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23856445
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LaLa_Land_14/pseuds/LaLa_Land_14
Summary: The year was 1967. High school was over. Her best friend stood in her driveway, keys in hand with a sunny smile. “How do you feel about San Francisco, Bells?”
Relationships: Edward Cullen/Bella Swan
Comments: 1
Kudos: 8





	California Dreamin'

"How do you feel about San Francisco, Bells? Music, freedom, love; you know the festivals happening this summer, too." His teeth bit into his plump bottom lip as he waited for her response, completely uncertain but hopeful.

  
A huff escaped her for what seemed like the millionth time as she shifted her wait from leg to leg, hyper-aware of the worn concrete step scraping against the bottoms of her bare feet. "It seems like a nice enough place." Her tone was flippant, but she knew that he knew. All they had talked about the past year was what was going down in California lately; it didn't seem fair to be so close to the center of freedom, yet so far removed. Washington may as well have been a million miles away for all they knew.

  
"It's what we've always talked about." Jacob's grin widened as he spread his arms wide, the keyring jingling from his finger where it dangled, glinting in the May sunlight. "I'm not gonna offer it again, Baby Bell. You in or out?"

  
Behind him sat his pet project, a ten-year-old VW bus that he had lovingly pieced together over the past few years, part by part in the garage behind his house. The outside was colorful, with splashes of color swirling together into an infinite number of patterns, immediately drawing your eyes in as you tried to make sense of what you were seeing. She had painted some of the flowers herself, on those few nights she had been able to sneak down to the reservation when her mother had had too many sips of gin. It was her, Jacob, Embry, and Quil against the world when they were in that hot, cluttered garage; they talked about what they would do if given half a chance, where they would go. It was a common desire among the group to leave their little rainy corner of Washington, to explore the world they'd been thrust into and to experience it as much as they could.

  
Her chocolate-colored eyes flickered to the windows of the bus.

  
Quil and Embry were practically smushed against the glass, their breath fogging up the area in front of their mouths as their dark eyes pleaded with her. They stared at her like children awaiting their mother's permission.

  
She supposed if anyone was the mother of their group, it would be her.

  
She had always stuck to the rules, always kept to herself and out of trouble. She was an overachiever with a deep streak of curiosity, this she knew, but she had responsibilities. Goals. The acceptance letter from Berkeley sitting upstairs on her bed was proof of that.

  
As if reading her mind, Jacob tilted his head at her, and his grin slipped into a knowing smirk. "C'mon, Berkeley Girl. Come with us and you'll be a few hundred miles closer when school starts."

  
She crossed her arms, turning to glance into the windows of her house, catching a glimpse of her mother's pink housecoat as she sat on the couch, no doubt nursing her third or fourth cocktail of the day and scowling at her daughter's decidedly _not white_ friends. Anything that didn't fit into Renee Swan's inflated, flawed mold of perfection was simply not acceptable.

  
There was no room for Jacob, Quil, or Embry in that mold.

  
There was no room for exploration, for finding what you wanted deep down, under the layers of toxicity and materialism society created for you.

  
There was no room for spontaneous road trips to San Francisco.

  
There was no room for anything, and the mold seemed to be closing in on her every day.

  
_Go to school, Bella._

  
_Get good grades, Bella._

  
_Find a nice husband, Bella._

  
_Don't you want a nice house, a nice man to take care of you, Bella?_

  
"You need to come inside before your father gets home! You know how much he hates his dinner being delayed, Bella!" Her mother's shrill voice carried through the front door that Bella had left cracked open behind her, making her cringe as her arms tightened over her chest instinctively.

  
Her mother's reminder cemented the decision she had been weighing in her mind from the moment the bus had groaned to a stop in her driveway, Jacob's sunny grin behind the wheel.

  
She was going to go to college.

  
She was going to learn all that she could, from anywhere she could.

  
She was going to be happy and live her life, and nothing was going to distract her from her goals.

  
And all of those goals could still be accomplished in a VW bus in San Francisco, at least for the summer. This was her summer of limbo, the gap between the childish innocence of high school and the harsh realities of adulthood waiting for her at college. It was the last chance to really be free before the shackles tightened once more.

  
"Give me until tomorrow; I'll break it to my dad at dinner tonight." A smile slowly spread across her lips as Jacob's eyes lit up and he nodded eagerly. "You better not leave without me, Black. If I miss this music festival after being stuck working on that van with you clowns…"

  
"Wouldn't dream of it Swan."


End file.
